Death of the Small Affordable Pickup

From the small Datsun pickups of the 70s to the iconic Ford Ranger and Chevy S10, the small trucks that once dominated the American market are now entirely gone. But why?

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[joshuagoates]

I used to think that old little Nissan trucks were the ugliest thing in the world, but I saw one today and thought, gee it'd be nice if there were more of those on the road

[BoostedPastime]

$7000-$9000 for a 2010 ford ranger. We are so fucked.

[allenfogarty]

The thing I hate most about modern giant pickups is the bed is too high. I dont want to lift bags of concrete any higher than I have too.

[nobletownship]

A real farmer/rancher here. I've been raising and selling cattle since the 1960's. I need two kinds of pickups in my operation. One is the Chevy with the DuraMax engine and Allison transmission (or equivalent unit) to pull the stock trailer. The other is the small chore pickup to drive from pasture to pasture and check cows, carry a little bit of feed and mineral, and some emergency vet supplies. Something that can be driven over minimum maintenance county roads and through pastures. Up through the early 2000's, I had a series of S10's to perform this role. Then you couldn't buy them anymore. I became more dependent on John Deere Gators. John Deere has gotten so greedy that a four wheel drive Gator with a cab is over $40, 000! Same with Polaris and other UTV makers. This spring, I went a different direction. I bought a Daihatsu HiJet. I had the suspension beefed up, tires switched to all-terrain, and lift kit installed. It has a dump bed that will handle 3/4 ton. It has a 5 speed manual transmission. It was a new unit and had to be imported as an agricultural machine, not road transportation, therefore, it had an electronic speed limiter on it to hold the speed down to 25 mph. The engine is 660 cc and is adequate for getting around but in hill country, you better keep the gears shifting. For some reason the speed limiter has quit functioning and it will go road speeds with no problem. Fortunately, my state (Iowa) and county allows these off-road intended vehicles on county roads so it's working out very well. I have pastures between seven and fourteen miles apart so it is practical for getting around. Gets 45 mpg hauling light to moderate loads. Not the S10 I yearn for, but $15, 000 less than a Gator and it does more than the Gator.

[roccoliuzzi]

As a carpenter, someone who actually uses a truck for "trucking", this infuriates me. Modern American pickups have gotten so large as to be impracticable. Ladder racks end up more than seven feet off the ground. The beds are too short for boards because they need "crewcabs" and you need a ladder to get on and off them. The engines are ridiculously powerful allowing them to be driven like demons. My early trucks had less than 200hp and were completely serviceable. No wonder older trucks fetch a premium.

[Louisrockefeller]

I think the recent popularity of japanese kei trucks lends a lot of credibility to the idea that a cheap small truck would be popular in the US. Toyota sells a sub $10K truck overseas, but lobbyists and the government have conspired to prevent us from getting them.

[Nothingseen]

I feel like there's a real backlash forming to the big pickup. I've been mad for years, but "trucks are too big" has begun to take root in places other than my grumbles, which has to mean... something

[themallard]

90% of people don’t need a full-size pick up truck. A small pick up truck will do just fine. However, there’s absolutely no reason that you should have to pay $30-$50, 000 for a small pick up. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

[toddfenn]

One thing he didn’t touch on: One main reason foreign trucks can’t compete in the U.S. is there’s a 25% tariff on any truck not made in America. It’s called the chicken tax.

[jsharp]

90% of drivers don't need to pull a boat or haul tons of gravel. We just need to carry a small sofa or a dozen bags of mulch home from the store. How is that so difficult for manufacturers to understand? Not every guy treats his vehicle like an extension of his junk. I'm not trying to impress anyone. I just want to move my kid to his dorm.

[dreadinajeep]

Holding on to my old 90s truck for dear life.

[SirSpam]

My first vehicle at 17 was a 2004 all manual everything Ford Ranger. I bought it new for $8999 (15K today) at a Labor Day sale, and I would do anything to be able to buy it again today.

[jamesruggeri]

gee, who would have thought that allowing lawmakers to take bribes from manufacturers would have lead to this? nobody could have seen this coming.

[kahristah]

Everyone parking huge pickup trucks for their daily commute to their white collar job in my apartment parking garage is sooo embarrassing. It does not fit

[noticiasinmundicias]

Bruh the EPA is owned by car companies. It's not stupidity, they didn't just pass measures that coincidentally made car companies and oil companies make more money.

It's not supidity, it's malice.

[lancasterritzyescargotdine]

My everyday car is a 1985 Ford Ranger standard cab, fully manual, 4-cylinder. I bought it 15 years ago for the camper shell for my Ranger 4WD, but ended up falling in love with it. Today, people comment on it regularly. They tell me they miss small pickups. They wish modern trucks were available with manual trans and no options. They try to buy it and make nice offers (I live in Arizona where Rangers aren't as common as they are in California.)

Don't fret - the small pickup will return, along with small engines and 4-and 5-speed transmissions. It will just take a few more years, when the public gets tired of huge cars (just like they always have in the past.)

[dolantrumf]

the maverick needs to have a single cab long box option

[RIVERSIDEREVIEWS]

It’s interesting if you ever see a truck doing actual truck stuff these days it usually an old beat up ford ranger or Chevy s10 with a bed so full it’s dragging the ground… can’t hardly remember a time I’ve seen a loaded f250

[TheCrypto]

My first ever vehicle was a 2wd 1994 Ford Ranger my dad found through craigslist. This was around 2012 or so and I had just got my license and needed my own vehicle to puts around in. Dad was damned determined it was gonna be a little 4 banger with a 5 speed, because he insured I knew how to drive stick thanks to a 93 Toyota he had and quite literally drove the guts out of.

That little 94 has a 4.0L with a 5 speed because he couldn't find a 4 banger, but couldn't pass up the price at the time (about $1600) and it had close to 225k miles on it and the motor had been replaced once. It had also been in an accident based on the front right quarter panel being replaced, but nothing major was hurt. I've had that truck since then, the check engine light has been on since about 2014, even a Ford Master Mechanic we know couldn't figure out what was causing it and didn't have access to a diagnostic scanner for that old a truck.

Despite her high miles, despite the decade of a check engine light, despite the rough driving I've put her through being a dumb teenager growing up on a farm, she still runs and drives with minimal issues. She's small but got a full size bed I can literally just step up into, the extended cab has just enough space with the rumble seats out to store a basic tool box and some other misc bits and bobs, and she's just a handy little thing to have cause I can squeeze her in and out of places bigger trucks can't.

I look at the new Maveric, and new Ranger and even I despair. The new Ranger's are the same size as the full size 90s F150s and it's ridiculous. The Maveric is barely any smaller than that and both are way bigger than my little ranger. Then you look at the new F150s, or Silverado or Ram and they're so damn cumbersome and they don't need to be. They still get piss poor gas mileage, they're not as useful as they should be because they're too big to fit places, too tall to easily load or unload, too fancy and computerized to be reliable. I'm not even that old, I'm a couple years shy of 30, but I miss the small trucks as much as anyone who was around when they were new.

I rambled alot, but oh well. Point is, having a 94 Ranger myself, even being young as I am, I miss the small trucks too.

[whatisbestinlife]

I drive my dad's old 86 Nissan King Cab around still and I have gotten half a dozen random guys coming up to me in parking lots and gas stations offering to buy it. Those small trucks are beloved and still have big followings today.